Nightmares
by Atherys
Summary: Cliché title, I know   '  Nami had a terrible nightmare - again - and this time holding it in isn't working. Who can help her through? A LuNa friendship/one-sided romance one-shot. Rated K  because... I'm not too sure of the ratings...


**AN: **Longer AN'll be found at the end. Spoilers up till... After Arlong park? I don't think there are any spoilers, really~ (WORK, linebreaker, WORK)

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><p>The young navigator awoke with a harsh shriek. She quickly clamped her hand over her mouth, trying to stop herself from making any more sounds than she already had.<p>

A quick glance around the room told her that Robin was still sleeping, and so Nami tried to hold everything in, be quiet, not wake her friend up because of something as silly as a nightmare. No, she wouldn't wake Robin up. Robin didn't know, and she didn't need to.

The usually so controlled girl forced her shaky legs to carry her out of the girls' cabin and onto the Sunny's deck. As carefully as possible, she shut the door behind her. There, in the cold night air, she collapsed. Huge sobs rocked her body as she curled up into a little ball, finally letting everything out.

Arlong.

Over a year had passed since Luffy came and defeated him, over a year since he had saved the village, saved_ her_, and she _still _had nightmares about those terrible, terrible years. Nami had dreamt of spending hours in a cramped room growing smaller and smaller while a cruel voice kept telling her to _draw faster, get it done _but no matter how fast she drew, no matter how many maps, there was always _more_. She'd seen a Bellemere die a thousand times in her dreams, her last words echoing through Nami's soul until they weren't _her_ words but something else, tellling Nami how it was all her fault and that she'd never been her _real_ daughter anyways. She'd seen Nojiko and Gin die as well; seen them fall to the hard ground, their bodies cold and unmoving, their eyes blank. Seen them drown. Seen them dying while trying to free her. And once, Nami had been the one dealing out the final blow, coldly laughing in her sister's shocked face. Mostly though, it was Arlong. Arlong, killing them _right in front of _her because she was working too slow, disobeying him, anything. She'd held her sister in her arms while her breath just kept getting _shallower_-

And then there was Luffy. No matter how awful all those other dreams had been, no matter how heart-breaking and terrifying they were, the dreams of him somehow managed to be even worse, for the simple reason that it was _him_. Usually her dreams focused on him was just her sitting there, stabbing her shoulder to get that despicable mark _away from her_, tears streaming down her face, and then he came, and he was there, and Nami _knew_ that everything would be allright, all she had to do was ask him to help her and he would make things right...

And then he _laughed_. He laughed at her pain, looked at her with eyes that weren't his but cold and uncaring and he said hateful things about how she had tricked them and how she _deserved _what was happening in a voice that wasn't his either but a mixture of all the people she had tricked and betrayed and she knew that it was true. She didn't deserve to be saved.

Those dreams ended with her joining Nojiko, fighting Arlong, and failing to save a single one of her friends. She was always the last to fall.

Then there was the dreams where _he_ died because Arlong was too strong, too powerful, and Nami was too weak to save him. She could never save him. Not him, not anyone else. Those dreams ended with everone dying, again. They always died. Always.

Tonight's dream had been laughing. The horrible sound was still rolling around in her mind, mocking her for being so weak, so selfish. She hated it. Even though she _knew_ that the Luffy in her dreams wasn't _real_, wasn't _him_, she couldn't help but feeling hurt, betrayed and-

Heartbroken. Seeing that Luffy, hearing him speak to her like that tore her apart, crushed her heart over and over again, because she loved him. It was as simple, but yet so complicated, as that. Nami, the hot-tempered navigator, was in love with their goofy captain.

Her fingers desperatly tried to find something to hold on to, something to anchor her, but there was nothing there but the cold, hard deck beneath her. She was never as vulnerable as after one of her nightmares, never as emotionally unstable as now. She despiced herself for beeing so weak, of course. Everyone else were always so strong.

"Nami?"

The sudden sound made her flinch and she cringed away from the voice. She had been to caught up in her thoughts to hear him coming. Why was he here? Why _now_?

Oh, right. Watch duty. Of course.

She tried to hide her face to keep him from seeing that she had cried. Actually, she still was. They just wouldn't _stop_. There was a brief silence, she didn't trust her voice, and then he spoke again.

"Nami, are you okay?" His voice was caring and warm and so _different_ from in her nightmares she couldn't stop the broken sob from being let out into the night. For a second, nobody moved. Then he carefully walked closer to her and softly touched her shoulder. She removed her hands from her face and looked up at him, her eyes silently begging him to help her, her lips still not moving.

He didn't speak again. Instead he gently placed his hat on her head and lift her up, carrying her to her beloved Mikan trees where he carefully let her down on the soft grass. He made a move as though to leave her there, give her some time or privacy or _whatever_, but Nami didn't let him go. Her hand gripped his vest with a strenght usually reserved for hitting idiots, and without a word he understood. He sat down next to her and lay a warm arm over her shoulders, holding her close to him. It wasn't a gesture of love, not in the romantic sense, but pure friendship, because to him they were nakama and nothing more. Nami knew that. And, the weird thing was that _she didn't mind_. She was just fine with sitting like this, crying her heart out right next to the man who most probably would never love her back because he might not even know what love _was_, feeling his warmth and his care for her and his strenght, letting it heal her.

She was still amazed by how he could do that to people, heal them. Amazed at how one single person could be both so extremely stupid and so _genious_ at the same time. He had this way of knowing exactly what he had to do to make people feel better, to help them through with whatever was troubling them. It was one of the two things she knew could make him serious and calm, like now. The other was when people he cared about was in danger, when he had to beat up someone and do it _fast,_ before it was too late.

When her crying had subsided and she was just sitting there, staring at nothing in particular, he spoke.

He didn't ask her what was wrong. He didn't try to make her talk about it. In fact, he completely avoided the subject and instead started talking about so very shallow and insignificant things, like how weird the shape of the moon was tonight and how very mean Sanji had been earlier today when he'd found Luffy stealing food from the fridge yet again, and then she was laughing. She just couldn't help it. They sat there, toghether, and laughed and talked and she hit him for saying stupid things and he yelled at her and then they laughed even harder and _everything was right again_.

It was that night, sitting under the star-filled sky with the stupid, silly, _amazing _boy that was Luffy Nami realised that she didn't need her captain to love her.

She just needed him to be there.

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>Told ya I'd be back, didn't I? So, what did you think?

I get the feeling I've got Luffy AND Nami slightly OOC. I exagerated his serious side and her weakness. Nami is stronger than how I write her, dammit Dx

This is my first time attempting to write LuNa, and this is my take on their relationship. I find Luffy too innocent to ever take the first step or anything like that, I'm also pretty sure he's somewhat like me; not really knowing where the line between really close friendship and love goes. I would be eternally grateful for any reviews, may it be flames, praise or critisism. I'm really eager to improve my English and my writing, so if you have any opinions, please tell me~

...all reviewers will get cookies? Q^Q

Oh, right, before I forget - I'm thinking of making this a two-shot, to get the chance to write Luffy's POV. I THINK I'd be more able to keep him in character then... Maybe...

Ah-

I'm sorry for rambling ^^'''

Thank you so much for reading~


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